


The Will To Power Through

by sunaddicted



Series: Tumblr Prompts 2021 [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Despair, Drabble, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Inner Dialogue, M/M, Short, Slice of Life, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 07:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30136419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunaddicted/pseuds/sunaddicted
Summary: “I can hear you worrying, Clark”“I can hear you dying”“Everybody dies a little every day” [...] “Even you. Just slower than the rest of us”
Relationships: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne
Series: Tumblr Prompts 2021 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2182554
Kudos: 48





	The Will To Power Through

**Author's Note:**

> @silivren-vera asked for "some delicious angst for Superbat, with a child size side of despair?" - I just want you to know that you speak my language, I love making them hurt.
> 
> T rating for the heavy mention of death and past injuries - no actual character death occurs though!

_ The Will To Power Through _

Being so attuned to Bruce  _ hurt _ .

Looking at him was painful, his superhuman eyes picking out every wrinkle; every fading bruise in all its shades; every abrasion and every laceration; every scar laid bare to bear testimony to a life offered in service for the greater good.

Staring through him was unbearable, x-ray vision easily picking out fractures that hadn’t healed well; hairline breaks in the bones that Bruce hadn’t seen fit to having checked out despite the fact that he must have been in pain; broken blood vessels and tumescent organs powering through the abuse Bruce put them through.

Listening to him was downright excruciating, his sensitive ears picking up every creak and groan and sob and sigh and scream and skipped heartbeat - a symphony of pain that Clark felt one day would drive him to madness as he was forced to witness the man he loved wither and die before his very eyes day by day, knowing that every injury he got in the line of duty only made their time together shorter: Bruce’s life was a candle burning at both ends, inexorably being eaten away by a fire that not even Superman could freeze in time.

He had been tempted to ask Zatanna or Constantine for help - surely there was something either of them could do to make Bruce immortal and if there wasn’t, they must have known ways or heard rumours at least… there wasn’t a clue Clark wouldn’t have chased to the outer fringes of the Multiverse just to find a way to stop Bruce from fading away.

From leaving them.

From leaving  _ him _ .

Sometimes Clark wondered whether he truly was the only one who perceived just how close to shattering Bruce was, glass thinning after too much use. Not all of their senses were as sensitive as his own and they weren’t as attuned to Bruce as he was but surely they must have had an inkling… they didn’t seem to know.

They didn’t seem to  _ care _ .

As if the Justice League wouldn’t fall apart without Bruce at its helm; he had been unanimously elected their leader for a reason and it wasn’t just because Batman could power through any emotion to do what was  _ right _ , even if it meant hurting one of them gone mad with power - no, Bruce was so much more than their emergency plan: he was the constant reminder of what a hero should be, selfless and willing to lose no matter how much it would break them inside.

Bruce embodied the will to power through.

Through physical pain.

Through loss.

Through grief.

Through doubt.

Through hopelessness.

Through tiredness.

Through the limits of a human body until it failed on him one last time.

“I can hear you worrying, Clark”

“I can hear you dying”

“Everybody dies a little every day” Bruce raised his eyes from the report he had been trying to focus on, despite the agitated presence perched at his back “Even you. Just slower than the rest of us”

“Not like you”

“No, not like me” Bruce sighed, turning the chair around to better face the other and reach out to grasp his hands, squeezing them in a comforting manner “Go to bed, I’ll join you shortly” he promised. There wasn’t anything else he could say - not without lying and what was the point in lying when Clark knew the truth already? 

They could only wait the night out, hoping that the other’s anguish would trickle away with the sunlight at dawn.


End file.
